Whatever Happened to that Old Thing?
by Wolf Child13
Summary: Calvin grows up, and forgets about Hobbes. Now Hobbes is back, but is he too late to save Calvin...from himself? Finally completed! YAY! My firstever Fanfic, so please R&R!
1. Prologue

**Whatever Happened to that Old Thing?**

_This is my first fan fiction, so please read and review. I want to know if I'm any good, or if I should be thrown off the face of the earth for not doing this ever-so-wonderful comic justice._

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Calvin and Hobbes. Bill Watterson does, lucky dog. I don't own anything… sob

**Prologue:**

"**AUGH! CALVIN, I'M TELLING!"**

"Haha! That was great! C'mon Hobbes, we'd better get out of here before Mom comes to get us…"

A short boy with tousled blonde hair jumped out from behind a bush and ran off, closely followed by a large tiger. They ran towards a large tree with a tree house in it and a sigh labeled G.R.O.S.S. They scurried up a rope ladder into the tree house.

"This was our greatest mission yet! This meeting of **G**et **R**id **O**f **S**limy Girl**S **is now closed!" exclaimed Calvin.

"**CALVIN!"**

"Oh no! Here comes Mom! Hide!" The boy and the tiger looked around frantically for a hiding place, but all they saw was a crate of pinecones labeled "Stuff for Throwing at Susie". With no other alternative, boy and tiger hugged each other close and sat in the middle of the clubhouse floor, waiting for their fate…

A woman's head appeared in the tree house door. "Calvin, I just got off the phone with Susie's mom. She tells me that you were throwing ROCKS at Susie! What do you have to say for yourself!"

"Uuuuh… Lies Mom! All lies! Hobbes and I have just been sitting here for the past half hour! Right, Hobbes?" Calvin turned to the stuffed tiger by his side.

"Calvin! Throwing rocks is dangerous! You could have seriously injured Susie! Come inside right now! And no dessert for a week!"

"Aww, Mom! A whole WEEK!" Calvin grabbed his stuffed animal and climbed out of the clubhouse. As soon as his mom turned her back, a real tiger was walking next to Calvin. "Oh, well. It was worth it." Calvin whispered to Hobbes.

"Yeah," snickered Hobbes. "Did you see the look on her face?"

"I sure did," Calvin giggled. He gave his tiger buddy a tight squeeze. "I'm so glad you're my best friend, Hobbes."

"Me too."

"Best Friends Forever…"

_Aww… sniffs Yeah… I seriously doubt that this is going to have a happy ending, but…we'll see!_


	2. Hobbes' Discovery

**Disclaimer: **Bill Watterson owns Calvin and Hobbes. I own nothing. So please don't sue! (whimpers)

**Chapter 1:**

"_Yaaaaaaaawn… _What the…Where am I?" Hobbes awoke from a nap to find himself in an unfamiliar dark place. He attempted to sit up, but found his head squished against a rather low ceiling. Needless to say, this was not a very comfortable position. Hobbes pressed his paws against the ceiling and pushed. To his surprise, the ceiling gave way easily.

Hobbes stuck his head out of the space and found that he was in a cardboard box. "Whoa! I'm lucky I haven't been transmogrified or duplicated or sent back to 1826 or something…" he exclaimed.

He glanced around and saw that he was not alone in the box. Scattered around his feet were a few old comic books, some plastic toy dinosaurs, and a toy plane. All of the items looked vaguely familiar, but Hobbes couldn't quite place them.

Hobbes clambered out of the box and glanced around. He appeared to be in the corner of a small room. A dim sliver of light was coming from the front of the room.

Hobbes stood up and found his head entangled in a large T-shirt. After a few seconds of struggling, he emerged from the tangle. "I guess I'm in a closet," he muttered.

Hobbes worked his way to the front of the closet, battling T-shirts and jeans. When he got to the door, he managed to open the door a bit. He peered out.

Like the objects in the box, the room was vaguely familiar. It was a mess, clothes were scattered across the floor, and in the corner stood an unmade bed. Pinned to the wall in various places were black and white pencil drawings. A few were of tigers. Appearing in most of the drawings was a teenage girl with short hair. Hobbes peered at these closely.

Just then, the door opened. In walked a tall teenage boy with messy blonde hair. Hobbes looked at him and gasped. "Calvin"

_Oh the drama! This is coming along pretty well! At least, better than I thought it would…_


	3. Just a Stuffed Animal

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Calvin and Hobbes. I own nothing. Nothing whatsoever…_

_Sorry I haven't updated in a while. My comp's been busted. Still is, actually… Anyway, thanks for all the reviews! I feel so special!_

**Chapter 2:**

Hobbes was staring at the face of a sixteen-year-old Calvin. Suddenly, all of his memories came rushing back to him; Calvin turning 8; Calvin ceasing to talk to him; sitting alone on Calvin's bed day after day; and finally, being thrown into a box with all of Calvin's old toys. A sob choked Hobbes' throat. "Calvin…"

For a brief moment in time, Hobbes thought Calvin had heard him. Calvin looked at the closet door and walked toward it.

"How did this get opened?" Calvin asked himself, starting to close the door. He glanced down and noticed Hobbes' head sticking out of the closet. "Hey…" Calvin reached down and picked up Hobbes. "Wow, you bring back memories." He stared blankly into space for a few moments, as if recalling things long passed. He crossed over to his unmade bed and sat down, Hobbes in his lap.

"Calvin, what happened?" Hobbes asked sadly. "Can't you hear me? Why can't you hear me!" Hobbes' voice was rising to the point of hysteria. Tears appeared in his eyes. Calvin went on talking.

"It doesn't seem that long ago when I believed that you were real. But in third grade, reality struck. I realized what you really were, are, a stuffed animal, just a stuffed animal…" Calvin's voice became sad. "God, I would give anything to have those days back. Back when you were real. Things were so much simpler." Calvin's voice dropped to a murmur. "Susie was just Susie…" Then he laughed, a hoarse, mirthless laugh. "Back then, I couldn't wait to grow up. But if I'd only known what I'd be giving up, I would have never been in such a hurry…"

Hobbes raised his voice to a scream. "BUT I **AM** REAL! I **AM**!" But it was all in vain. To Calvin, Hobbes was just an old plaything, and nothing was going to change that.

Boy and tiger sat together, crying. But Hobbes' tears were invisible to Calvin. Hobbes was just a shadow of times long gone…

_Awwwwwwwwwww… This is so sad. Just so you know, I'm just making this up as I go along, so I have about as much idea as you do about what's going to happen._


	4. The Note

_I'm sooooooooooooooooo sorry I haven't updated in months. I actually finished the story a few months ago, but my computer's been busted for like, 9 months, and I haven't been able to get a computer long enough to type it up. But anyway, I'm here now, and I'd like to thank you people reading it for sticking with me while I suffered through my computer withdrawal. (By the way, Mithril Elf is a close friend of mine, and I read her the story, so that's why she knows the ending. And you'll find out about the whole Killer thing…)_

**Disclaimer: _I do not own Calvin and Hobbes, I just love it to death. J_**

**Chapter 3:**

Hobbes lay on Calvin's bed and stared at the ceiling. He'd been back with Calvin for two days now, and still couldn't manage to get through to him. Hobbes sighed and began to mull over what he'd learned of Calvin's new life.

To start, there was Susie. Calvin was desperately, hopelessly, obsessively in love with her. Hobbes had always guessed that things would turn out that way, but he had never imagined that Calvin would wait so long that by the time Calvin realized his feelings for Susie, she would hate him more than anything on the face of the planet, and no amount of begging or planning could change that. Then there was Lily, the depressed, possibly anorexic girl that Calvin couldn't help but return to no matter how many times he broke up with her. And _then_ there was his social life; he had none. Everyone in his neighborhood and at school avoided him at all costs, and even his teachers believed that he went to a psychiatrist three times a week, and his parents kept him locked in his bedroom. Aside from Lily, the only living creature he associated with was his pet iguana, Killer.

Hobbes learned all this when Calvin came home from school and talked to Hobbes, sitting on the edge of his bed and holding Hobbes in his lap, staring blankly at the wall. And no matter how loudly Hobbes shouted, Calvin continued talking in a monotone, absentmindedly playing with Hobbes's arms. Hobbes had almost given up.

During the day, it was just Hobbes and Killer. Hobbes had some pleasant, if rather one-sided conversations with Killer, but he missed Calvin. He needed to do something.

"What do you think Killer?" Hobbes asked, rolling on his side and gazing into the glass cage that held his reptilian friend. "What can I do to make Calvin see me?"

The iguana remained motionless. After five silent minutes, Killer flicked his tongue. Hobbes took that to mean a shrug.

"You're no help," Hobbes muttered, rolling onto his back. "I need to give him a sign, something he can't ignore. What!" Hobbes bolted upright. "I'll write him a note!"

After wasting ten minutes rummaging through Calvin's hopelessly messy desk for pen and paper, Hobbes finally sat down and began to write:

Dear Calvn

U cnt c me But im Bak. I don't know y u cnt c me but I thnk it mite hav something 2 do with u being older. Frm wut uve told me thes past fu daz I cn tel u need my hlp. But the onli way I cn hlp u is if u cn c nd heer me. So I need u 2 tri to remembr evrithng we usd 2 do nd tri 2 c me as u did thn. Im still heer u just need 2 look hrd enof. U r my Best frend forever. Ill alwys Be heer jst don't forget me.

Sincrli,

Hobs

Hobbes surveyed his work. He wasn't sure of some of the spellings, but he was sure Calvin would know what he meant. Satisfied, he put it on the bed in front of him and lay back to await Calvin's return.


	5. Calvin, NO!

_Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I get really bored typing stuff up, but my friend has been bugging me to update for weeks, so here it is:_

**Disclaimer: _I do not own Calvin and Hobbes. I am not nearly talented enough to think up such a wonderful comic. -sigh- I just write fanfics…_**

**Chapter 4**

Calvin returned home in a foul mood. He'd broken up with Lily, yet again, and this time he was sure it was for good. He'd also been beaten up by a six-and-a-half-foot-tall Moe, in plain view of three teachers, and was now sporting a black eye, and several other bruises the size of Texas. To top it all off, his parents were threatening to make those rumored psychiatrist visit's a reality. And no matter how many times he shouted that it wasn't his fault everyone else in the world was a narrow-minded imbecile, they still refused to see from his point of view. Typical.

Calvin stormed into his room, slammed the door, threw his beat up old backpack in a corner, and promptly tripped and hit his head on Killer's cage.

When he came to, Calvin found himself staring into the eyes of a very unworried looking iguana. Calvin cursed, scrambling to his feet. After examining two more bruises, one on his hip and one on his temple, he resumed storming around his room, his new injuries only adding to his fury.

When he ran out of things to throw on the floor, Calvin swept everything off his bed, excluding Hobbes and his pillows, threw himself across it, and fell asleep.

After a half-hour-long nap, Calvin finally raised his head and looked around his room. It was a pig-sty. Dirty clothes, school books, moldy pizza boxes, and God-only-knows-what-else were scattered randomly across the room. He couldn't remember the last time he'd cleaned his room, and his mother had long ago ceased to even open his door, lest the horror of what lay inside give her a heart attack. He detected a faint rotting smell in the air and his mind immediately went to Cheesy, the mouse he'd never managed to find. Also, his desk seemed to be mysteriously missing a chair. This seemed wrong to Calvin. After taking all this in, Calvin rose and began to do the unthinkable: clean his room.

After finding his chair beneath a chin-high pile of dirty underwear, and avoiding the space under the bed, where he believed he'd discovered Cheesy, Calvin found a piece of paper resting on top of a mound of filthy laundry. Something about it caught his eye, and, as he began to read it, Calvin slowly sank onto his bed.

Because of the atrocious spelling, it took Calvin longer than normal to discern the letter. Finally, he set down the paper and gazed blankly into space. Slowly, he turned to the stuffed tiger next to him, who gazed back with shiny, unrevealing eyes. "I…can't…" he whispered. Then, he grabbed Hobbes and shook him violently. "What is going _on_?" he demanded, gazing into the tiger's blank eyes. "I don't…understand--," Calvin suddenly flung himself across the bed, grabbed a pocket knife from the drawer in his bed side table, and started to press it against his wrist.

"Calvin, _no!_"


	6. A Tearful Arguement

_Yay! Final chapter! I know, finally! Anyway, you may have noticed that I have a very weird sense of humor. Kind of dry, random, and sarcastic. I call it British Humor, and it comes from watching too much Monty Python, and reading too many books by Douglas Adams. So, if you don't get why I put something in, it's probably just me being funny. XD_

**Disclaimer: _I'm getting really tired of typing these. I mean, anyone who thinks that I own Calvin and Hobbes, shouldn't be reading Calvin and Hobbes fan fiction, right? Anyway, at least it's the last time I have to type it, until I start typing up my next fan fiction, which I've already got the plotline for. Look for it. It should be called "Calvin Through the Looking-Glass". You've probably already guessed what it's about, huh? Anyway, on with the final chapter!_**

**Chapter 5**

Hobbes stared at Calvin, horrified. His best friend was about to commit suicide in front of his eyes, and there was nothing he could do. Panicking, Hobbes jumped to his feet and screamed, fully aware that Calvin couldn't hear him.

But Calvin heard. He stopped, and time stood still.

After a silent, painful eternity, Calvin slowly turned his head toward the voice he had heard only in his dreams for the past eight years. As he stared into the familiar striped face of his best friend, the past sixteen years came rushing back to Calvin. It was all too much for him, and he threw himself onto his pillow and sobbed. And with his tears he poured out all the stress, the resentment, the loneliness, and the pain of the last eight years. Hobbes understood, and he sat by Calvin's head and waited for his tears to subside.

When Calvin finally stopped crying, he sat up without glancing at Hobbes, and silently reached for his pocketknife.

"Calvin, what are you _doing?_" Hobbes demanded shrilly. "What is the _matter_ with you?"

Calvin gazed at him. His face was pale and streaked with tears, and his voice was faint and shaky. "Don't you see, Hobbes? No matter what we do, things can never be the same. Too much time has passed, and everything's gone bad. It's too late," he concluded sadly, shaking his head.

"But it's _not_ to late! We can fix things! We can start over, and make it right!" Hobbes argued, feeling a bubble of panic rising in his throat.

"We _can't_, Hobbes!" Calvin exploded. "It's too late! And I can't stand it! I can't go on like this! I'm not _me!_" Calvin paused, trying to gain control of his temper. Finally, he continued. "Remember, Hobbes, all those years ago, when I used to ask you what you thought happened to us when we died? Well, I've had a lot of time to think, these past years, and I think I've got it figured out. What happens to us when we die is _anything we want._ The only way I can be happy again, Hobbes, is if I go back again to when I had you! This is the only way. I need to go back to when I was six and innocent!"

Hobbes snorted. He couldn't help himself. Calvin had always been anything but innocent. But Hobbes quickly regained his sanity. "But Calvin," he protested, "you have me _now!_ There must be some other way! Calvin, I'll never forgive you if you do this! Never! You're all I have! If you go, what will happen to _me?_"

A tear dripped off Hobbes' nose. He vaguely wondered how long he'd been crying. He looked up, and realized that Calvin was crying again, too. "Please Calvin," he whispered, "please don't leave me."

Calvin reached over and pulled Hobbes to him. "I'll never leave you, Hobbes, never," he sobbed. We'll find a way. Everything will be okay. Best Friends Forever."

_Awwww…-sniffs- So happy, yet, so sad. I can't believe I wrote that… Anyway, remember, this is my first-ever fanfic, so I need TONS of feedback, so please review. I'll be happy to hear what you think, even if you hated it. And also, look for "Calvin Through the Looking-Glass". Buh-bye!_


End file.
